Pipmeister
Senior Retro Guru
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I added a post to the 1998 Marketplace Watch with regards to this question, but I would assume it is more suited to this section.
*Does anyone know if Kona produced a 6-4 King Kahuna other than the fairly well documented 1996 model?*
I was sent the link below while back by al-onestare showing Dario Cioni’s 1999 King Kahuna. This is documented as a 6-4 frame, which up until then I had no idea had been produced.
I can only assume that the one in the link below is actually a 6-4, and presumably these were only produced in small batches – possibly for Team Riders only as it doesn’t appear in any Kona catalogue that I have seen.
http://cog.konaworld.com/tituesday-dari ... ng-kahuna/
It would be interesting to discover whether these were produced with a 6-4 rear triangle similar to the 1996, or with all 8 tubes made from 6-4. This would have made them very expensive to manufacture.
Anyway, the 6-4 1996 King Kahuna has no ovalised tubes or gusseting; Presumably the qualities of a 6-4 rear end was enough to stiffen up the 1996 version for team riders, some of whom were claiming that the Hei Hei flexed too much. However the ovalising and gusseting tubing enhancement was introduced for the 1997 – 2000 King Kahuna.
Dario’s 1999 has the gusseting of a standard King Kahuna from that year, so where did the 6-4 tubes (documented in the Kona link) start and end?
It seems likely that I saw Dario’s 6-4 for sale a while ago (see picture below), but I would need to find one of these that was produced for a team rider who was nearer my height!
Pip.
*Does anyone know if Kona produced a 6-4 King Kahuna other than the fairly well documented 1996 model?*
I was sent the link below while back by al-onestare showing Dario Cioni’s 1999 King Kahuna. This is documented as a 6-4 frame, which up until then I had no idea had been produced.
I can only assume that the one in the link below is actually a 6-4, and presumably these were only produced in small batches – possibly for Team Riders only as it doesn’t appear in any Kona catalogue that I have seen.
http://cog.konaworld.com/tituesday-dari ... ng-kahuna/
It would be interesting to discover whether these were produced with a 6-4 rear triangle similar to the 1996, or with all 8 tubes made from 6-4. This would have made them very expensive to manufacture.
Anyway, the 6-4 1996 King Kahuna has no ovalised tubes or gusseting; Presumably the qualities of a 6-4 rear end was enough to stiffen up the 1996 version for team riders, some of whom were claiming that the Hei Hei flexed too much. However the ovalising and gusseting tubing enhancement was introduced for the 1997 – 2000 King Kahuna.
Dario’s 1999 has the gusseting of a standard King Kahuna from that year, so where did the 6-4 tubes (documented in the Kona link) start and end?
It seems likely that I saw Dario’s 6-4 for sale a while ago (see picture below), but I would need to find one of these that was produced for a team rider who was nearer my height!
Pip.
